An Act of Love
by jenniferjun1per
Summary: I wondered what would have happened if Sven hadn't stopped Kristoff after they had delivered Anna back to Arendelle, if he had just kept walking and didn't look back. I think the events on the fjord would have unfolded without him, but I know Anna would not have left it at that. So this is a reworking of the end of the movie, with a firm Kristanna bent.
1. Chapter 1

It was just as beautiful as he remembered. The sunlight glistened on the spires of the frozen ice palace, and Kristoff blinked to make sure it wasn't just a trick of his imagination.

Still there, he thought. He stared hard at it, and once again found himself breathless at the sheer beauty of the towering edifice.

If it's still here, then everything DID happen.

It had been a week and a half since the events of the Eternal Winter- more precisely, ten days, five hours, and thirty-seven minutes, not that Kristoff was counting.

Ten days, five hours, thirty-seven minutes since he last saw Princess Anna of Arendelle. He closed his eyes, and his heart lurched at the memory. Princess Anna, so cold in his arms. Princess Anna, asking if HE was going to be alright. Princess Anna, in the arms of her handmaiden, turning to look back at him as the gates closed.

Kristoff knew he had done the right thing, delivering her into the arms of her beloved, sending her home to where she belonged. Somewhere he could never follow. He was worried on the long walk away from the castle, but when the winter suddenly dissipated, he felt better. But only marginally so. He had walked aimlessly for hours, collapsing in exhaustion, Sven finally easing him onto his back and taking him to his family.

Oh Kristoff, Bulda had said, staring into his eyes, seeing exactly what was there. Kristoff had looked away, not being able to bear his mother's understanding gaze.

He had gone back to ice harvesting right away, hoping to get his mind off of everything, but he could hear the whispers of the other ice harvesters. He couldn't blame them, a queen who could manifest ice and snow and almost destroyed her kingdom was ripe fodder for gossip, but Kristoff couldn't stand to hear it. So he had decided he needed to take a break, and found himself at the foot of Elsa's ice palace.

Initially, he was surprised he remembered the way, but who was he kidding. He could recreate the steps in his sleep. This was where Anna slipped and almost fell over the cliff, it was under this tree that she told him the funny story about breaking her arm as a child, near this frozen creek she had stopped to rub her ankle through her boot, tucking a stray lock of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear.

He gazed up at the ice palace, lost in his thoughts, so he didn't hear the soft crunch of boots on snow.

"Kristoff?"

At first he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him, he had been thinking about her right at that moment, so he didn't turn around. Until she called out to him again.

"Kristoff? Is that you?" She asked, a little more hesitantly now.

Reality seeped at the cracks of his consciousness. He slowly turned, and was face to face with the subject of his waking dreams.

"Anna?"

He stared at her for a long time, expecting her to be an apparition that would dissolve eventually, but she didn't. To her credit, she gave him a moment, merely regarding him with a soft smile. Eventually, she broke the silence.

"I've been looking for you for forever! Well, not forever, but, you know, a week, I guess- gosh! Has it been a week already?! Wow, I didn't even realize it! Everything just happened so quickly, you know, but I was thinking about you a lot, and when things kinda calmed down a bit, I asked Elsa if I could go looking for you, and-" She stopped then, realizing that she was babbling, her face turning a glorious shade of crimson.

"A week and a half." He whispered, surprised at how quiet his voice sounded.

"What?"

"A week and a half." He repeated, louder this time. "Actually, ten days, five hours, thirty-seven minutes, if you want to be precise."

She laughed, and the sound was a soothing balm to the ache in his heart.

"Oh Kristoff, you always did make me laugh!" She said, and blushed again. He smiled at her, wanted to run to her, take her in his arms and twirl her around, kiss her on the lips. But she wasn't his, and suddenly he wondered why she was looking for him. Wouldn't her fiancé be upset that she was up here?

"It's nice to see you again, Anna." He fought to keep a level tone, when he really just wanted to tell her how much she consumed his very being. "But, don't you have a fiancé waiting for you?"

Anna flinched. Her shoulders slumped and she wrapped her arms around herself. She bit her lip and trembled, and once again Kristoff fought a super-human urge to take her into his arms.

"Well, about that… It didn't really… work out…" Her voice was small, and she looked so fragile. Before Kristoff could respond, she continued in a jumble, like she just wanted to get the words out so she could move on to a more pleasant topic.

"I found him, and told him I was dying, and needed him to kiss me to save me, but he ended up telling me that he really didn't love me, he just wanted to use me to get the throne." Anna looked away then, and Kristoff heard her sniffle, but then she rubbed her eyes and turned back to him, offering a weak smile.

Kristoff thought he had felt anger in his life. He had tussles with men, on the ice, in the taverns, in the marketplace. But the feeling that was coursing through him at that moment was unlike anything he had ever experienced- boiling, seething, irrational. It made his vision go white, and his hands clenched involuntarily at his sides.

"You were right." She said weakly, "It wasn't true love." She smiled at him then, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

Kristoff wanted to scream, wanted to run down the mountain and find this Hans and rip him to pieces for hurting Anna like he did. He looked at her, opening his mouth to tell her that was exactly what he was going to do, when he realized that she was fine. She was standing in front of him, not frozen, her hair back to its glorious shade of strawberry blonde, not a trace of white.

"But if Hans didn't kiss you-" Just saying his name out loud made Kristoff want to vomit- "what saved you?"

"Well, after Hans locked me in the room, I thought I was going to die there, but Olaf found me and we escaped the room just as it started to ice over. I figured it was over for me, but Elsa still needed my help, so I went to find her. I found myself out on the fjord, but I could barely see and I was so cold…" She rubbed her arms at the memory, and Kristoff cursed himself for not staying with her then, and making sure she was safe. As if she could read his mind, she continued. "I thought of you then," she said in a small voice, "I wondered if- if-"

"If I could have saved you." He finished for her. If it would take him the rest of his life to make it up to her, and if she let him, he would do it. Seeing the distraught look on his face, she suddenly felt guilty for saying it.

"But don't worry, please! It ends happy, I promise! See, just when I was about to give up, everything stopped and suddenly I heard a sword, and I looked over and saw Hans standing over Elsa" Kristoff inhaled sharply at this "so I gathered up all my strength and ran over to stop him. The moment the sword came down, I felt the coldest I'd ever felt in my life, starting from my toes and moving up through my body."

Kristoff felt the blood drain from his face. She had frozen. His greatest fear, ever since Grand Pabbie had admitted, sadly, that he couldn't fix it. But Anna wasn't finished.

"The next thing I remember, Elsa was holding me and crying."

"There's your act of true love." Kristoff whispered, finally understanding.

"See! I told you it would end happy!" Anna positively beamed at him, and Kristoff felt like his heart would burst. "So… That leads me to here. To find you. To thank you for saving me."

"To thank me?" Kristoff was confused. "Anna, you saved yourself. And your sister. And all of Arendelle for that matter." He shook his head, marvelling at the strength and courage that was wrapped up in such a little package.

"Kristoff." Anna rolled her eyes at him. "I wouldn't have made it anywhere without you. I would've been eaten by wolves, or fallen off a mountain, or froze to death before even making it back to Arendelle." She shivered involuntarily at the last statement, Kristoff's arm moving reflexively towards her before he thought better of it and dropped it back down to his side. "So I wanted to thank you. In person." He was still a little confused, so she babbled on. "I didn't know where to find you, I checked the lake a few times but I seemed to always have missed you, so I wondered, what if he wanted to see the ice palace? He does have a thing for ice. So I came here, and here we are!"

Kristoff smiled at her. He wanted to tell her that for the past week and a half he thought of nothing but her, and wondered if she even remembered him. His dreams were filled with her laughter, blue eyes sparkling, braids dancing. But he settled for a simple "thank you", said somewhat sheepishly, with downcast eyes, boot toeing at the packed snow.

"Oh! And you have to come back to Arendelle with me! I have a big surprise for you!" She started to jump up and down, clapping her hands with glee.

"Wait, what?"

"Now! Right now! Come on come on come on!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Grinning like a fool, he obliged her, relishing the clasp of her small hand in his.


	2. Chapter 2

They were quiet at first, on the ride back to the castle, Anna on her horse and Kristoff on Sven. Anna would peek shyly at Kristoff through her lashes, and he would pretend not to see but inside his heart was leaping.

"So," Kristoff began, when the awkward silence was too much for even him to bear. "How is Elsa doing?"

"Oh! She's doing wonderfully!" Anna began, grateful for a topic she could blather on about. "She's learning how to control her powers and I have to say, she's come a really long way!" Anna beamed, clearly very proud of her older sister. "Although, we have had our fair share of mishaps." She added, giggling slightly.

"Oh?" Kristoff raised an eyebrow, wondering if Anna's definition of an Elsa mishap matched his. He had visions of twenty-foot tall snowmen traipsing through the castle, terrorizing the staff.

"The time she froze Kai's feet to the floor by accident when he startled her was probably the funniest." Anna grinned, and Kristoff laughed heartily, picturing the poor steward's face.

"Um, what about you? How have you been doing?" Anna suddenly turned to him, concern and curiosity etched clearly on her face.

"Uhh," Kristoff shifted uncomfortably on Sven, and the reindeer snorted as if to say, just tell her already! Kristoff gave him a hard shove with his boot. "I- well- that is- um- you know-" He stuttered, painfully unsure as to whether it was proper to tell the princess of Arendelle that he was in love with her.

"Did you- you know- did you ever- um- think of me?" She asked, finally getting the words out.

"Well, yeah, Anna. Every day." He said, finally finding his courage. He hated that she even had to ask him, that she had to question how he felt. "I would wake up every morning, remembering you in my dreams. My first thought was always of you. How you were doing, how you were feeling. I would go about my day but every step I took, every action, every feeling, always went back to you." He lowered his head, not wanting to see her reaction, in case she didn't feel the same way.

Anna inclined her head towards him and asked the question that had been burning a hole in her mind for the last week and a half.

"Then why didn't you come back? To see me?"

Kristoff felt like he had been punched in the gut. How was he supposed to explain it to her? That he HAD to leave her, because that was where she belonged, and there was no room in her life for an ice harvester.

"I had a talk with Olaf," She continued, when it was clear he wasn't going to respond to her question, "he found me wandering the halls one day, I had been going through everything Hans had said to me, and I was pretty low." She dropped the reins and clasped her hands together, turning them over and over each other. Kristoff felt his heart breaking all over again, but he let her continue. "I told him I didn't know what love is, and he told me that it was okay, because he did." She looked at Kristoff then, and her piercing blue eyes shot right through him like an arrow.

"Wh-what did he say?" Kristoff whispered.

"He said 'Love is putting someone else's needs before yours, like how Kristoff brought you here and left you forever'." Her eyes bore into him, questioning, "Is it true?" She was whispering now, and he suddenly felt like his entire life had condensed to this one moment.

"I-"

Before he could answer, trumpets blared and they both looked up. They hadn't realized it, but they had made it to the castle gates.

"They're here!" Someone yelled, and there was a flurry of activity on the wall before the gates slowly opened.

The courtyard was filled with people, all cheering and waving happily. At first Kristoff thought they were happy to see their princess back but when he looked from face to face he realized they were all looking at him. He glanced nervously at Anna, but she only smiled warmly at him, the seriousness of their interrupted conversation momentarily forgotten. Before he could ask her what was happening, a regal voice cut through the crowd.

"People of Arendelle," Elsa began, and Kristoff followed the sound of her voice to see that she was standing on the steps of the castle. She smiled at him, and continued. "In my darkest hour, my sister never gave up on me, and I credit her with saving my life." Everyone cheered, and Elsa glanced gratefully at her sister. "But you all know that story" she went on, "The story I'm going to share with you now, is that of a man, who helped a woman in need, when he had no reason to do so." She looked directly at Kristoff now, and all eyes turned to him. He could feel the blood rushing to his face.

"This man, beyond all expectation, helped her in every way he knew how, even when the predicament was dire." Elsa lowered her gaze, clearly still feeling responsibility for hurting Anna. But she regained her composure quickly. "I stand before you now to implore you to celebrate him! I present to you, Master Kristoff Bjorgman!" She motioned to him, but he stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded at the spectacle he had found himself in the middle of. Two guards appeared at either side of him, and taking him by the elbows, guided him to where the queen was standing.

"Master Bjorgman, I hereby name you Arendelle's Official Ice Master and Deliverer." Kai had appeared at her side with a medal on a cushion, she placed the medal around Kristoff's neck, and continued "May you execute your duties with as much meticulousness and care as that with which you aided my sister." She smiled at him, and under her breath so that only he could hear, she said "Thank you, Kristoff, from the bottom of my heart." He could see tears forming in her eyes, but before they could overtake her, she turned back to the crowd.

"I present to you, Kristoff Bjorgman, Ice Master and Deliverer!"

Everyone cheered again, and people came forward, wanting to shake his hand or pat him on the back. Kristoff was so overwhelmed he could only stand there, letting the people wash over him. Eventually the crowd thinned, and he saw Anna, standing in the middle of the courtyard. She had her hands behind her back, and a very wide smile on her face.

"I have a surprise for you!" She said in a singsong voice.

"This wasn't surprise enough?!" He gestured incredulously to the courtyard around him.

"Pfft, that was nothing!" And then she motioned for the crowd behind her to move aside, and there, in the middle of the courtyard, the sun gleaming off the fresh lacquer, was the most exquisite sled he had ever seen. He wanted to cry.

"I owe you a sled!"

"What! No, Anna, I couldn't!" He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Sure you can!" She admonished him, "After all, you are Arendelle's Official Ice Master and Deliverer!"

"Is that even a thing?"

"Of course it is!" She said defensively, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you like it?" She asked, uncertainty in her voice.

"Like it? I love it!" And then he couldn't hold back anymore. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up, twirling her in the air. He didn't care that her sister was watching, that everyone else in the kingdom was watching. This was the moment that invaded both his dreams and his waking world. But then he took it a tad too far. "I could kiss you!"

Realizing what he had just said, he hastily put her down, and tried desperately to backtrack. "I mean, I'd like to, may I? way me? I mean, me we? Ugh" He couldn't even get the words out, rubbing his hand through his hair in frustration. But lucky for him, Anna could keep her presence of mind.

"We may."

He couldn't believe his ears, and he didn't hesitate. He wrapped one arm around her waist, the other hand cradled her face. And he kissed her. Every emotion, every feeling in his body poured into that kiss, his head reeling with the thought of her, the smell of her, the taste of her. The world fell away, and for that moment, it was only him, Kristoff, Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer, and Anna, Princess of Arendelle.

The kiss lasted only a moment but when they broke apart, Anna could see the answer to her previous question in his eyes.

There was someone out there who loved her.


End file.
